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THE OFFSET
SFX
|October 2021
RELEASED 14 SEPTEMBER
232 pages | Paperback
Author Calder Szewczak
Publisher Angry Robot
On a dying Earth – ravaged by global warming and nuclear fallout – resources are precious, so population growth is controlled by the Offset; for every child born a parent must die. And on their 18th birthday, it’s the child who decides which parent is executed. That synopsis might sounds like the trailer voiceover for the next Hunger Games or Maze Runner style YA movie series – but fortunately The Offset is far more interesting and thought-provoking than that.
The plot follows one family: Miri, a fiercely anti-natalist teenager with a self-loathing for her own existence, and her two mothers; one of whom, Jac, just happens to be a scientist who could save the world. Problem is, Miri is fast approaching 18, and she loathes Jac. Does she have the right to nominate Jac as her Offset?
This story is from the October 2021 edition of SFX.
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